Greek Baked Beans (p. 250)

I mentioned my escapades tracking down a few Mediterranean ingredients the other day, and one of those ingredients was for this recipe. Instead of finding true Greek gigantes ("giant" beans) I picked up some large lima beans to give Greek Baked Beans my best attempt.

The beans (soaked over night) need to be simmered for about 45 minutes before anything else.

This makes them tender, and, at least with the lima beans, makes their skins fall off. The recipe warned of foam that might rise to the top of my pan during this step, and it wasn't kidding.

Meanwhile, sauté chopped red onion in olive oil. When the beans are ready, use a slotted spoon to remove them from the pan and into an oven-safe dish. Save the water from the beans, though -- you'll want to dissolve some honey and tomato concentrate in some of it and then pour it back over the beans. Yup, that's what you'll want to do.

Add olive oil, the cooked onions, and chopped peeled tomatoes to the bean dish and tuck in a bay left.

Cook for about an hour and a half, and then add red wine vinegar and some fresh herbs (I just used parsley, since that's what I had) as well as salt and pepper. Cook a little bit longer and then serve.

I enjoyed this, but not as much as I liked Egyptian Beans with Olive Oil the other day, those were the bee's knees. This was good though, and I enjoyed it more on day 2 after the flavors had done some soaking.

tomatoes -- $3.29

lima beans -- $1.79
Total Cost of Greek Baked Beans:$5.08
($1.69 per serving)